Chef Boy Arte keeps Angels' Scioscia-Dipoto recipe intact

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Touring the sports world, here and there …

Now that that they know their partnership continues, Mike Sciosica should invite Jerry Dipoto over to watch the competitive cooking show, “Chopped.” That's the one in which chef contestants are given mystery baskets of mismatched items from which they must create a great dish. And Scioscia could mumble, just loud enough to be heard, “Boy, I sure know how that feels.”

Scioscia was given a roster shallow on pitching to start the season. Injuries to pitchers and hitters alike made it worse. If Dipoto, and Arte Moreno, can focus on getting reliable pitching and go cold turkey on the team's mania for signing big-name hitting stars, Scioscia and the Angels will have a fighting chance in 2014.

The departure of hitting coach Jim Eppard means next season Mike Trout will have three hitting instructors in as many MLB seasons. Eppard replaced the fired Mickey Hatcher in May 2012. Continuity is preferred, but there seems to be nothing that can impede Trout's progress.

Yeah, you're not the only one who thought pitching coach Mike Butcher would be a scapegoat for the 2013 season. Butcher stays, and perhaps positive exit interviews from Angels pitchers were influential.

It's easy to say so after the Dodgers beat Atlanta in Game 4 of the NLDS to win the series. Yes, it was the right move to pitch Clayton Kershaw on Monday on – OMG! – three days rest. You can't plan the upcoming series until you win the one you're in.

In Game 7 of the 1968 World Series, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals pitched on two days rest. Gibson worked nine innings, gave up eight hits and four earned runs, struck out eight and walked one in the Cardinals' 4-1 loss to Detroit. Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich was better, going nine innings with five hits and one earned run allowed, and four strikeouts with three walks – also on two days rest.

Game 7 of the '68 series was played on Oct. 10. In 2013, World Series Game 1 is scheduled for Oct. 23.

A painful postgame shot for San Francisco Giants fans was one that showed Dodgers Brian Wilson hugging Jose Uribe in the dugout. Wilson and Uribe were teammates who made big contributions on San Francisco's 2010 World Series championship team.

The Dodgers' elimination of the Braves also ended Braves backup catcher Gerald Laird's pursuit of an interesting trifecta. Laird signed as a free agent with St. Louis before the 2011 season in which the Cardinals went to the World Series. He signed as a free agent with Detroit before the '12 season in which the Tigers went to the World Series. Laird, Orange County player of the year at La Quinta High in the 1990s, signed a free-agent deal with Atlanta last November.

The hard-luck team in Orange County community college football might be Santa Ana, which is 0-2 in the Southern Conference with those losses by a total of 10 points. Two weeks ago, Santa Ana gave conference leader Grossmont (4-1 overall, 2-0 in conference) its toughest challenge of the year. Grossmont beat Santa Ana, 39-35; Grossmont's other three wins are by an average margin of 41 points.

Fullerton (4-0, 1-0) is one-half game behind Grossmont, as is Saddleback (2-2, 1-0). Fullerton and Saddleback play nonconference games Saturday, then play each other Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. at Saddleback College.

Saddleback sophomore receiver Dominick Ela is averaging 10 catches and 134 receiving yards a game. Ela was a favorite target of Boston College quarterback Chase Rettig when they were teammates at San Clemente High.

San Diego Chargers fans complained that the team looked unmotivated and not ready to play under Coach Norv Turner, and the Chargers trailed the Raiders by a lot and early in their 27-17 loss at Oakland on Monday. Wait, Turner's not coaching the team this year. Could it be something else, like a shortage of high-quality players?

The Chargers did go into that game shorthanded. Their best receiver, Malcom Floyd, did not play; linebacker Melvin Ingram and defensive end Dwight Freeney are out for the year; the team is missing starting offensive linemen; and running back Ryan Mathews exited in the second quarter because of a concussion.

As for the Raiders, they took a big lead on a division opponent and had what it took to win it at the end. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor made some good throws on the run.

It looks like sometimes-controversial trainer Doug O'Neill might add another Breeders Cup win to his resume. His Irish-bred filly, Clenor, won the Surfer Girl Stakes, a 1-mile turf race, on Sunday at Santa Anita where she was the 3-5 favorite. She might have similar odds in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

General admission tickets for the two-day Breeders' Cup are on sale at the track and at breederscup.com/tickets. Advance online prices are $10 for Nov. 1 and $25 for Nov. 2.

It's been a week since Kobe Bryant traveled to Germany to undergo a procedure to his right knee, and we still have not heard a political pundit make a crack, pro or con, about what that says about this country's health-care quality.

Bryant's knee issues are said to be unrelated to his Achilles' tendon repair. That might be so, given Bryant has played almost 1,500 NBA regular-season and playoff games. But sometimes, being careful with one recovering body part causes a stress problem to another.

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